Kitty03 Review of The Englishman's Boy

The Englishman's Boy (2008)

A flawed but basically excellent production of the novelisation of the Cypress Hills Massacre.

[23 September 2008]

This is the best Canadian production I have seen in years. The plot was riveting, the acting first-rate and the production values excellent - equivalent to anything produced in the United States or elsewhere. The acting sometimes tends to reflect the intense nature of the action. This should not surprise us. After all, a story based on a real historical incident in which nearly two dozen Assiniboine were killed, including women and children, cannot be an unemotional one. The casting is somewhat problematic. Nicholas Campbell and Michael Eisner do not physically look alike enough to convince us that they are older and younger versions of the same man. Their acting styles and the direction that they must have been given to portray their characters are also diametrically opposed. Finally, there is the issue of the flashbacks. Constantly switching back and forth from 1873 to the 1920s is not done as smoothly as it could have been and is very disconcerting. Although the script embellishes somewhat upon the known historical facts of the Cypress Hills Massacre (eyewitness accounts at the trials of the wolfers were somewhat contradictory) the essence of the historical event that led to the formation of the Northwest Mounted Police remains intact.